Management

Soundview Executive Book Summaries® publishes summaries of the best business books of each year on management issues including change management, managing people, crisis management, managing a virtual workforce, project management and more. Browse our extensive collection of management book summaries to solve your most difficult issues.

How Coca-Cola Learned to Combine Scale & Agility (and How You Can Too)

by Linda Tischler, David Butler

David Butler and Linda Tischler share the successes and failures of Coca-Cola as this large, global company learned to use design to create both scale and agility. Regardless of size or industry, the same approach, which is presented in a clear and actionable way, can be used successfully by other businesses.

Breaking the Eight Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses

by Patricia O'Connell, Neil Smith

Every day, seemingly intelligent and successful leaders and their companies make headline news because of poor decisions that can cause their businesses to stumble, making many of us scratch our heads in wonder: Why would such a successful business make that strategic decision? How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things highlights the ways in which the eight hidden barriers can interrupt your business, and author Neil Smith outlines a fast, and proven, process in which 12 principles...

How Extraordinary Companies Pursue Radical Continuous Change

by Jason Jennings

For most businesses, success is fleeting. There are only two real choices: stick with the status quo until things inevitably decline, or continuously change to stay vital. But how? Bestselling leadership and management guru Jason Jennings and his researchers screened 22,000 companies around the world that had been cited as great examples of reinvention. They selected the best, verified their success, interviewed their leaders, and learned how they pursue never-ending radical change. The fresh...

Mastering the Most Critical Business Skill of All

by Bernard T. Ferrari

Nothing causes bad decisions in organizations as often as poor listening. But Bernard Ferrari, adviser to some of the nation's most influential executives, believes that such missteps can be avoided and that the skills and habits of good listening can be developed and mastered. He offers a step-by-step process that will help readers become active listeners, able to shape and focus any conversation.

Many companies who claim to have “relationships” with their customers mistake collecting data about customers with actually knowing them. The authors explain how to differentiate between true relationship businesses and what they call “encounter” businesses. They then show how many of the best companies reject “pseudo-relationships” in favor of enhanced encounters.

How Next Generation Companies Are Achieving Peak Performance and Profitability

by Tom Sommerlatte, Ronald S. Jonash

Investors reward and pay a premium for innovation. The authors present a framework for capturing this ‘innovation premium’ based on five areas: strategy, process, innovation resources, organizational structures, and innovative learning cultures.